Crisis Management
"Air traffic control lost contact with their plane 40 minutes ago. It vanished from their radar. They're looking for them right now." Gibbs walked briskly into the lab, followed close behind by Ducky.
Abby swallowed and closed her eyes. Jasmine reached out and took her hand, squeezing it.
"Abigail, Jasmine… I'm sure they're fine," Ducky said soothingly, as he moved over to the two women. He opened his arms and embraced them both at the same time.
"Damnit, how many times does Tony have to almost die before it gets old," Abby muttered, trying to sound brave. "I swear sometimes he's such a one-trick pony."
"They all have first-aid training," Ducky pointed out, "and Mr. Palmer is a medical student. We know they're missing, and they are being searched for as we speak."
"My brother never could do things the easy way," Jasmine muttered. "Hop a plane, come home. Was that so damned difficult?" Gibbs smiled slightly, grateful for the brave fronts. He had not the time for comforting words, when three of his people, and one of Ducky's, were missing.
"Mr. Palmer sometimes has a rather roundabout way of getting from point A to point B," Ducky said, nodding slightly. "I really must have a little chat with him about that, when he gets back."
"Didn't Ziva have a spa weekend planned with you ladies?" Gibbs asked. Abby and Jasmine nodded. "She loves our spa weekends. She wouldn't miss it for anything," Abby said, smiling slightly. Jasmine laughed softly. "Wherever she is, she's probably swearing at the delay. I can already hear her accent becoming heavier. You can usually tell how pissed off she is by how heavy her accent gets." Gibbs reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. Jasmine McGee probably had the most to worry about, with both her brother and her boyfriend suddenly MIA.
Gibbs sighed. His people were probably fine… but nobody could ever say that Tony could avoid trouble like the plague. They all knew how good he was at avoiding the plague.
He thought about how close he had come, on numerous occasions, to losing various members of his team, and sometimes all of them at once. He thought about the one that he had lost, how close he had come to losing Tony just two weeks before that, and how close he had come to losing them all to a car bomb, the day that Tony had returned to work. He thought about how close he had come to losing both McGee and Abby, the day after that - the same day he had lost Kate. Then Ducky… he wasn't sure if Ari had ever planned to actually kill Ducky, or if he had simply opted to use him as bait, that night he had abducted their Medical Examiner and friend.
His team was nothing if not resilient. And they were resourceful. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them, muttering, "I need coffee."
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"Damnit. Tony, I found the splint."
Tony looked over to where McGee was kneeling, rummaging though rubble and wreckage.
McGee held up two pieces of what used to be thelonger splint board.
"Guess we'll have to find something else, then," Tony said, sighing heavily. McGee stood up, tossing down the broken pieces of wood disdainfully. "I'm gonna see what else I can dig up that might be useful," he said, moving away to another area close by.
When he returned, Tony saw that he had his trench coat draped over one arm. "We can use this to keep her warm," he said. Tony looked up and nodded, then returned to his search.
"Sweet!" Tony called out, suddenly. He pulled a large, flat, solid object from the rubble. "I found the back board! Maybe we can use that to get her back to the fuselage."
"Let's go then," McGee said, turning to lead the way.